Darren,
It is not quite on the same topic, but I attended the Annual North West Anthropological Conference here in Oregon yesterday. I was giving a paper of Drake's movements along the American west coast. There is a group of people who are trying to find and identify the Manila Galleon that wrecked at Nehalem, a bit further north on the Oregon coast, and they were giving a presentation on their efforts. There has been tons of beeswax found there, a pretty good indication of a Manila Galleon wreck, but nobody knows just which of several possible ships it might be. One of the group gave a presentation on the benefits that shipwrecks bring to communities, and they gave several examples. One of these was the benefits that flow from the Mel Fisher Museum in Florida. These are mostly professional archaeologists attending this conference, and it is interesting that somebody would talk about the Mel Fisher Museum in such a positive way. The State Archaeologist gave a presentation on the history of the State's attitude towards shipwrecks, and the laws surrounding them.
It was all quite interesting. I am not an archaeologist by the way, but was invited to give a presentation by a group of archaeologists who are interested in trying to find the wreck of a captured Spanish ship that Drake left behind of the west coast when he went back to England in 1579.
As I say, not quite the same topic, but not too far off it, I hope.
Mariner
well done!
